


Santa's Address Book

by AHappyPup



Series: Age Gap AUs [4]
Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Big Little Ice Bros, Christmas fic, F/M, anna is a military brat, prequel to big little ice bros, soft angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:26:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21925921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHappyPup/pseuds/AHappyPup
Summary: Christmas was hard after Mama and Papa passed, but Anna is doing her best. Even still, Elsa has some concerns.
Relationships: Anna & Elsa (Disney), Anna/Kristoff (Disney), Elsa & Kristoff (Disney)
Series: Age Gap AUs [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1620439
Comments: 8
Kudos: 76





	Santa's Address Book

The first Christmas, they hadn't known. Their parents were piloting internationally for Christmas Eve and had known as such a while in advance. So they celebrated the 23rd with cookies and dinner and instructions for Anna on where Santa's presents were hidden. It was a calm before the storm they didn't know was coming. 

Anna was happy to be home with her little sister. There were no papers or deadlines to make. Elsa had just turned three on the 22nd and the magic of Christmas was alive and well. Anna was happy to take her sister everywhere: going to see Santa, walking around the snowy suburban neighborhoods, drinking hot chocolate and watching movies. It was wonderful, until it wasn’t.

They were spending Christmas day with Kristoff’s family. Elsa happily played with his younger cousins; Kristoff and Anna got some time to themselves in the hustle and bustle. She was almost asleep lying against him when she got a phone call. 

A phone call from American Airlines. Their plane had gone down in the Arctic Ocean, crashed right into a glacier. 

There had been an attempt to keep it from Elsa until the next day, but Anna’s tears fell without her consent, and the secret was out. It was bad enough telling her once, but Elsa was too little to really understand. It took several attempts for Elsa to really understand that Mama and Papa weren’t coming home from their flight, breaking Anna’s heart each and every time.

The year after was tough. Funerals, moving out of their parents’ house, custody battles, taking a sabbatical from school were only a few highlights of the year. But Anna was determined to make Christmas magical for Elsa. She decorated their new house in as much decor as she could manage. Weekend evenings ended in hot cocoa and movies. She was even able to take Elsa sledding on the big hill near Kristoff’s house. 

But it wasn’t the same, no matter how hard she tried. Their mother wasn’t singing songs with them as they drove through town or their father swearing as he rigged lights outside their house. The sadness pooled inside her heart as she cursed the people who needed to go from Denver to Norway that night. She knew it wasn’t their fault, but it was easier to be angry at them rather than the multiple engines that had failed that night.

Kristoff helped. He had effectively moved into the little two bedroom house with them given how often he was around. He was there when Anna couldn’t pick up Elsa from preschool because meetings with the lawyers ran long or when Anna just needed a break. It helped that Elsa liked him too.

Christmas Eve, they laid in bed cuddling quietly. There hadn’t been much to say since they put Elsa to bed, waiting for Kristoff to put on his silly Santa Claus outfit and lay out presents for Elsa. The day had been good, even with the somber undertone. Anna didn’t want Elsa to remember Christmas as a time of sadness- to do that would be the most heinous act in her eyes. They had baked cookies for Santa, cooked spaghetti together, made snow angels in the yard, and watched Christmas movies until Elsa’s little eyes began drooping. It was all and all a great day. It felt almost like Mama and Papa were only on another flight if she didn’t think about it too long.

“Do you think we did okay?” Anna asked softly, breaking the silence.

“You did amazing,” he said, kissing her temple. “It’s going to be good, I promise.”

“I just hope so.” Anna curled inward towards Kristoff, soaking him his warmth and comfort. “I want to be good.” 

“And it will be. And we’ll make it through tomorrow. One step at a time, one breath at a time. Just like we’ve done for the last year.” Kristoff rubbed a soft hand on her back. 

Anna nodded. He was right after all. He usually was.

“Anna?” A little voice popped up from the doorway.

“Elsa? What are you doing up, baby girl?” she asked, moving in the bed. Elsa had a bit of a tendency of crawling into bed with them when she couldn’t sleep. She knew she should break the habit, but in reality Anna liked the closeness too. “Couldn’t sleep?”

The little girl shook her head before crawling into the spot between Anna and Kristoff. “Come here, snowflake. Cozy as a cocoon,” Kristoff said, bundling the toddler into the covers. Elsa gave a little smile, obviously comforted by the gesture.

“Anna?” the little girl said, looking up to her big sister. “Is Santa going to miss us since we moved from last year?”

Anna gave a contented sigh, happy that was the cause of her sister’s restlessness rather than other hard truths. This Anna could fix. “Nope. Santa and Mrs. Clause keep a very good address book. And remember you sent your letter with our new address? They certainly won’t skip us.” It was what their father had always told her as a little girl while they moved constantly due to their mother’s job in the Air Force. Christmas was always somewhere new, but Santa never left her behind.

Elsa nodded, content with the answer. It was clear she wasn’t as excited as she was the Christmas before. And before then she had been too little to truly enjoy Christmas. It hurt Anna’s heart, but what else could they do?

“But, he might if certain little girls don’t go to sleep,” Kristoff teased, tickling Elsa’s belly. 

“No he won’t! Tell him, Anna!” Elsa laughed with a smile, a real smile. 

“I dunno, sis. That’s what I was always told,” she teased right back. “Now you have to shut your eyes. And if you listen really hard you might hear sleigh bells.” Anna moved her sister to lie on top of her chest, Elsa’s favorite spot. 

“Will you sing Mama’s song?” Elsa asked softly, curling up in her sister’s warmth.

Anna nodded and hummed softly. She rubbed Elsa’s arm with the gentlest of care, letting the little girl be soothed to sleep. It would never be like it was before. But they did they best they could. And that was enough.

“Merry Christmas, Elsa.”


End file.
